Coventry have named Jim Lynch as their new team manager for the 2017 season in succession to Gary Havelock.

Lynch, a former Great Britain national boss, returns to domestic management for the first time since a spell with Belle Vue in 2011-12.

He has a previous association with Bees promoter Mick Horton from their time on a consortium at Peterborough in the early-2000s, Lynch having managed the Panthers to the Elite League title in 1999.

And he came within a race of repeating the feat with Reading in 2006 only to miss out in arguably the most dramatic Grand Final in history, ironically back at Peterborough.

The Coventry job is one he has been linked with on several occasions in the past, most notably in 2004 when the club eventually brought in Peter Oakes to work with Colin Pratt – but Lynch admits he is delighted to finally get a chance at Brandon.

He said: “The first time I ever saw speedway was at Coventry back in 1962, and I was a supporter for about 20 years.

“I missed out two or three times on promoting or team managing there, it never quite came to fruition, but I’ve always got on well with the people at Coventry.

“When Mick came along and asked if I fancied doing it, it was probably the only place I would have come back into the sport.

Jim Lynch (left)

“Mick and I have worked together before and he’s done a great job in securing the short-term future at least for the club, so it all added up to the opportunity to have a go.

“I’ve had success in the past, I’ve won most of what could be won in the Premier League, as well as the Elite League on television, and I know the fans want success at Coventry so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Lynch and Horton have already held talks over the make-up of their side to contest the newly re-branded SGB Premiership next season.

Teams are being built to a 50-point limit, but a mark-up factor of 1.4 on the averages of former Elite League riders will rule some out of contention and make it imperative to find the right balance.

Lynch said: “We had two hours together on Friday and Mick has gone away to talk to riders, and at this stage there are eight other clubs doing exactly the same thing!

“You also have two teams in Rye House and Somerset who are brand-new, and they’re going to be super-enthusiastic.

“We’ve had a good chat about it and I’d say we’ve named probably nine riders that we’d want to pick a good seven from, and then it’s down to Mick to do the deals.

“I won’t be having anything to do with the contracts, but it’s nice to have an input on who we’d like to bring in, and on most of the riders we were talking about I do know them anyway because I haven’t been out of it that long.”